CT Construction Digest Friday September 29, 2023
THE SUZIO STORY 125 YEARS OF FAMILY ENTERPRISE PHILANTHROPY AND SERVICE
The Meriden Historical Society is hosting an exhibit entitled "The Suzio Story - 125 Years of Enterprise, Family, Philanthropy, and Service" at its Museum and History Center, at 41 West Main Street in Meriden every Sunday in October from 11:00 to 3:00
Featuring memorabilia and photographs from Suzio headquarters on Westfield Road as well as videos of interviews with past and present employees
Capturing the remarkable story of a 21 year old Italian immigrant, Leonardo Suzio, who grew Suzio York Hill into one of the most successful and enduring family-owned businesses in Connecticut history starting in 1898
Including the role of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation Suzio members and Henry Altobello in the evolution and growth of the business from building (1910's) to road construction (1930's) to building materials (1955 - today)
Highlighting Suzio loyalty to its origin city Meriden, its employees, its vendors, and its community.
CT to leave big transportation funds unspent
President Joe Biden and Congress have dangled $1.2 trillion in matching funds before states for the past two years, challenging them to invest in their aging highways, bridges and other infrastructure.
But Connecticut has resisted that lure somewhat, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars unspent in its transportation fund since 2021 — and projecting another huge surplus in the program this fiscal year.
And while the State Bond Commission continues to approve financing for transportation work, that doesn’t always mean Connecticut will actually borrow and spend the funds in a timely fashion.
According to the treasurer’s office, nearly $5.4 billion in commission-approved bonding still hasn’t been issued, a backlog more than six times the size of Connecticut’s projected transportation borrowing this year.
Meanwhile, the state’s approach has left construction industries and workers frustrated, and Connecticut’s gasoline station owners are calling for an immediate reduction in state fuel taxes.
“Why shouldn’t the state deliver relief to its taxpayers?” said Michael Fox, executive director of the Connecticut-based Gasoline & Automotive Service Dealers of America, commonly known as GASDA. “They need energy price relief, and they need inflation relief.”
Fox, whose organization represents about 500 stations, said the state budget’s Special Transportation Fund certainly can spare the revenue.
More than 40% of the $2.15 billion fund covers the debt service on the bonds Connecticut issues to finance upgrades to its aging infrastructure, while another 40% pays for Department of Transportation operations and public transit programs. The rest covers the Department of Motor Vehicles and fringe benefits costs.
The STF is on pace to close $204 million or almost 10% in the black when the fiscal year ends June 30, according to Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget agency, the Office of Policy and Management.
The fund closed the 2022-23 fiscal year with a 15% surplus, equal to $277 million, according to final numbers from the state comptroller’s office. And that was despite a 13-month gasoline tax holiday that returned about $330 million to motorists. Most of that loss, $240 million, occurred during the 2022-23 fiscal year.
The rest of the expense tied to that holiday, about $90 million came at the end of the 2021-22 fiscal year, when finances still finished with a 4% surplus, leaving about $79 million unspent.
The Special Transportation Fund gets most of its revenues from retail and wholesale taxes on fuel, plus a share of sales tax receipts.
Fox wants the legislature to eliminate the wholesale levy, which adds 8.81% to the price of gasoline when its delivered to local stations. That full cost is then built into the price charged to motorists.
Based on the $2.54 per gallon average wholesale price in the middle of this past week at New Haven harbor — the single-largest fuel importing site in the state — the tax currently adds about 22 cents per gallon to the price.
The state also tacks on a flat, 25-cents-per-gallon retail tax.
Lamont’s budget staff estimates the wholesale tax would generate $387 million this fiscal year, or almost twice the $204 million projected transportation fund surplus.
Given last year’s windfall as well, Fox says he believes the state still could afford that tax cut. But if officials are wary, he added, they always could phase the relief in over a few years.
Gas station owners aren’t the only ones interested in relief.
Fuel distributors also say that if Connecticut isn’t going to spend more fixing its highways, bridges and rail lines, then consumers should benefit.
Chris Herb, president and CEO of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association, noted that the wholesale tax originally was created more than four decades ago to help fund clean-up of underground fuel tank leaks — a program legislators voted to phase out back in 2012.
The wholesale tax at least should be reduced to reflect the fact that it no longer funds that assistance, Herb said.
And Patrick Sasser of Stamford, founder of the No Tolls CT grassroots organization that battled Lamont’s efforts to establish tolls in 2019 and 2020, said governors and many legislators have been insisting for nearly two decades that the STF will need more revenue since capital road work will begin to increase very soon.
“It becomes a bit of fear mongering, because they tell us they need the money to make these repairs,” he said. “They scare us and tell us the bridges are going to collapse, yet they don’t use the money.”
There are numbers to back Sasser’s argument.
CT spending on infrastructure upgrades has grown modestly under Lamont
Connecticut was borrowing about $600 million to $700 million per year for transportation projects in the mid-2010s and pairing it with about $700 million in federal construction grants. But DOT officials said then that capital budget of about $1.4 billion needed to be closer to $2 billion to cover both safety upgrades and projects to reduce congestion.
Connecticut issued an annual average of $725 million in transportation bonds between 2015 and 2018 under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, according to debt reports from the state treasurer’s office. During Lamont’s first term, the annual average ticked upward just 2.6%, reaching $744 million — even though STF revenues grew 22% over those four years.
Borrowing covered by the Special Transportation Fund did rise 11.5% last fiscal year, reaching $830 million. And the Lamont administration had construction industry and trade officials excited last November when it projected the investment would grow to $1 billion in 2023-24. Federal grants under the new Biden initiative are covering 80% to 90% of the cost of many transportation projects, meaning the more states commit, the more overall funding they can leverage.
But in the latest monthly debt report issued by state Treasurer Erick Russell’s office, it indicated Connecticut plans to issue $875 million this fiscal year, just a 5.4% increase.
The treasurer’s projections usually are based on whatever the administration — and specifically the Department of Transportation — is prepared to spend.
Both construction management and labor reacted this week with disappointment.
“We should be bonding at $1.25 billion to $1.5 billion a year right now,” said Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industry Association, who added the extra borrowing would amount to a massive infusion in the state’s economy given the huge potential aid from Washington. “It yields one of the highest returns on investments for government spending.”
“We are sitting on a lot of money,” said Nate Brown, political director and business agent for the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 478. “We don’t want to miss this opportunity. At some point that [federal] money … will dry up.”
Lamont administration: ‘We expect to use all the revenue’
The state Department of Transportation wrote in a statement that Connecticut has leveraged more than $280 million in federal discretionary grants to date. The department “is also accelerating existing projects so they can be completed sooner, freeing up resources for other much-needed work,” it continued. “CTDOT is leveraging billions of state and federal dollars which are going towards improving the state’s infrastructure, helping grow the economy, generating jobs, connecting communities, and creating safe and accessible passageways for more people”
The Lamont administration is expected Friday to release a new bond commission agenda that endorses about $400 million in transportation borrowing that would leverage another $2 billion in federal funds.
But despite bond commission approval, the state traditionally doesn’t borrow funds until the DOT is ready to spend the dollars.
The backlog of approved transportation bonding that hasn’t been issued or spent more than doubled under Malloy and has swelled by almost 40%, from $3.9 billion to $5.4 billion, since Lamont took office in January 2019, according to the treasurer’s records.
State employee labor unions argue the department has been plagued for more than a decade by a shortage of engineers, planners and architects that make it difficult to launch projects quickly.
Shubert and Brown both said they oppose cutting fuel taxes or taking any resources away from the Special Transportation Fund. And both also said they believe DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto, who inherited many challenges when Lamont tapped him nine months ago to run the department, will find a way to get more projects moving.
Lamont’s budget office had been projecting as late as February that the Special Transportation Fund would remain in surplus through mid-2026. His budget spokesman, Chris Collibee, said the office now projects an operating deficit two-and-a-half years from now, though he didn’t release specific numbers.
But even if the fund slips into the red by 2026, the administration also projected the transportation fund reserve — which holds its cumulative surpluses — will hold almost $1.2 billion by then. That’s more than half of this year’s entire Special Transportation Fund.
Collibee added that “we expect to use all the revenue going into the fund for the purposes to which they are dedicated. The nature of transportation investments are such that the drawdown of funds can sometimes take a number of years.”
Proposed Thompsonville train station would restore rail service to Enfield for first time since 1986
ENFIELD — When the long-awaited train station is up and running in the Thompsonville section of town, state transportation officials say it will reconnect Enfield to other parts of Connecticut and beyond. The town hasn't had access to rail in more than 37 years.
The old Enfield train station — once a destination for President Harry S. Truman — operated for over a century before being closed in 1986.
The proposed project would provide a convenient alternative to car travel, and connect the town via Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to New York and Boston, according to the state Department of Transportation. The proposed project would be serviced by CTrail's Hartford Line, providing an additional option to the existing bus service.
Another train station is currently under construction in Windsor Locks and is scheduled to open in 2025.
Construction of the Enfield station is anticipated to begin in spring 2025, depending on the acquisition of rights of way and approval of permits. According to the DOT, the estimated construction cost for the project is about $45.5 million, and with an anticipated 40 percent coming from federal funds and 60 percent from state funds.
Details of the project include a 500-foot level-boarding platform, a utility building accompanied by a waiting area, and a station parking lot. Design for the station is at the 30 percent mark and DOT staff are looking for feedback on its initial drawings and plans.
To that end, department officials will hold an informational meeting on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Town Hall and streamed live on DOT's YouTube page. A question-and-answer period will follow the presentation.
The meeting will also kick off and explain the National Environmental Policy Act process, which is required because the DOT has received grants from federal agencies to assist in funding construction of the proposed station. The process “will evaluate and report on impacts of the proposed project to the natural and human environment and affords additional opportunities to comment on the project in the future,” the agency said in a statement.
The project is also consistent with state and local planning initiatives for responsible growth and long-term sustainability, according to the statement.
Enfield officials have said the station will be the centerpiece of infrastructure investment and revitalizing Thompsonville is the borough in town with the highest level of unemployment, the densest housing, and the largest population of residents who don't own vehicles, leading to limited employment options.
Town Manager Ellen Zoppo Sassu said the "huge population" of daily commuters would benefit, as would the surrounding area, as local leaders are committed to expanding the bus system to add stops at the station.
"It's going to be a new chapter in Thompsonville, which will benefit all of Enfield," she said.
Other Thompsonville projects include improvements for Higgins Park and additional parking spaces at the Town Hall complex, and a transit-oriented, mixed-income, multifamily housing project on town-owned properties that once housed the Strand Theater and the Angelo Lamagna Activity Center.
Bradley International Airport gets over $94 million for new building, improvements
The Connecticut Airport Authority is getting nearly $100 million of federal funding for three of its airports.
The bulk of the $99.27 million will go to Bradley International Airport, which is in Windsor Locks. Bradley got $76.14 million for an inline baggage screening building, $17.96 million for a vertical circulation project and $278,643 for a taxiway extension project.
Groton-New London Airport will get nearly $2.91 million in federal money for airfield lighting and new signs for the facility. Hartford-Brainard Airport will get nearly $1.98 million in federal grant to be used for easement acquisition and obstruction removal.
Kevin Dillon, the Authority's executive director, thanked Gov. Ned Lamont and the state's legislative delegation in Washington for "fighting to bring this important funding home for CAA facilities ... as we continue to develop and maintain safe, efficient, and customer-focused facilities."
Lamont said improvement of Authority's airports "make our state an increasingly attractive destination for companies to grow their operations."
The grants will allow officials at Bradley International, which is New England's second busiest airport, to "create an easier and more streamlined airport experience for travelers, according to U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
"Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Bradley will upgrade its TSA baggage screening systems and expand ticketing counters – helping cut down lines and save travelers time," Blumenthal said.
Bradley’s new inline baggage screening building has a projected cost of nearly $151 million. It includes, the construction of a new TSA secure baggage inspections and baggage handling system, involving over a mile of conveyer belt systems.
Currently, passengers checking bags must present them to the ticket counter for tagging and then wheel their bags to the airport's Computer Tomography X-ray machines, which are operated by TSA in the ticketing lobby, said Alisa Sisic, an Airport Authority spokeswoman. Once the project is completed, passengers will hand their checked bags to the ticketing agent for tagging, who will place them on a conveyer belt for routing to the new screening facility, Sisic said.
Once the baggage X-ray machines are removed from the airport ticketing lobby, there will be space for additional ticket counter positions and allowing for additional airline service growth, she said.
The new baggage facility is under construction adjacent to the terminal building. It will also allow for the future construction of new gate and concession space, resulting in an increase of two new gates at the airport, Sisic said.
Bradley's vertical circulation project has a total project cost of nearly $59 million. It will expand the facility by an additional 22,000 square feet to accommodate new elevators and escalators on both ends of the terminal provide passenger exit points at the end of each concourse, rather than routing passengers through one, centrally located exit lane, she said.
In addition, the passenger circulation projects will allow for the closure of the existing exit lane and a significant expansion of the current TSA security checkpoint area.
Sisic said the federal grant money will allow the Airport Authority to continue studying the extension of Taxiway T at Bradley. This project, if undertaken, would significantly improve the development prospects for one of the airport’s largest undeveloped parcels.
Sisic said the Groton-New London Airport airfield will get new edge lighting installed as well as LED signs at the airport, improving the visibility of airfield resources She said the Hartford-Brainard easement acquisition and obstruction removal project will mitigate various airspace encroachments surrounding the airport, providing pilots with safe approach surfaces at the facility.
The $99.27 million includes such sources as the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Improvement Program funds, Transportation Security Administration funds, and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. Nearly $26 million of that funding was from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grants, which are competitive grants, according to Airport Authority officials.
New Haven board approves plan to transform Strong School into affordable housing, community space
NEW HAVEN — A plan to transform the former Strong School into affordable apartments and community space has won zoning approval.
The decision to renovate the Strong School, which has sat vacant at 69 Grand Ave. for more than a decade, passed in a 5-0 vote at the New Haven City Plan Commission meeting on Sept. 20. During the public hearing portion of the meeting, several community members spoke in support of the project. The commission received 10 letters of support as well. Construction is anticipated to begin in late 2024.
The original building on the site was built in 1808 and served as New Haven’s first public school, according to Ward 14 Alder Sarah Miller. That building was torn down and the site was turned into the Strong Grammar School, named for Major Henry H. Strong, a representative in the Connecticut General Assembly and a member of the New Haven Board of Education, according to the New Haven Museum. The museum says that it was known as the best public grammar school in the state.
The current building was built in 1915 after a fire destroyed the previous Strong School; the school has been empty but on the city tax roll since 2010, according to the museum. Since then, there have been multiple attempts to redevelop it.
Miller said in an email that the school is a major city landmark and defining structure of the Grand Avenue corridor. But it has been subject to water damage, vandalism and other disrepair, according to Meaghan Miles, an attorney who represents the developer, Pennrose, and presented the plan at the City Plan Commission meeting.
In the approved plan, the classrooms will become dwelling units and the auditorium will become a space for community programs such as health clinics and art shows, Miles said. The application says the project will provide 58 mixed-income housing units, all of which will be tax credit eligible up to 80 percent of the area median income. It will be a mix of studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units.
A multistory lounge, called “the connector,” which would feature artwork displays on the interior and exterior for residents and the community, is being considered for the building. The proposal also includes 19 parking spaces, four on-site and 15 in a nearby public lot.
Miller said in an email Thursday that redevelopment of the site is an essential step in the revitalization of the Grand Avenue corridor and neighborhood as a whole.
“This proposal fulfills community-defined values and priorities of artistic and cultural enrichment, accessibility and inclusion, and historic preservation, which were expressed through a multi-year engagement process that involved hundreds of neighborhood residents,” she said. “It adds affordable housing and gathering space, supports local artists and arts culture, adds to our local tax base, and restores a historic building for a new generation.”
The developer, Pennrose, has experience turning schools into housing, such as the Mary D. Stone Apartments and Julia Bancroft Apartments in Auburn, MA, according to Pennrose Senior Developer Karmen Cheung. Cheung said Pennrose has developed LGBTQ-affirming projects with nonprofits across the nation, like The Pryde in Boston, John Arthur Flats in Cincinnati and John C. Anderson in Philadelphia.
Pennrose is partnering with the New Haven Pride Center on the project. Executive director of the center, Juancarlos Soto, said Pennrose reached out to the center about the partnership, which is the first time the it has partnered with a developer.
Soto said the partnership “goes beyond putting a rainbow on a wall.” It could include putting a satellite office in the building, extending Pride Center programs such as the food pantry and gender-affirming clothing closet, and developing programming that is inviting to the whole community, regardless of where people stand on the spectrum of gender and sexuality.
“Fair Haven holds a really near and dear place in my heart,” Soto said, “so to see a developer come in and treat it with such respect — I'm in.”
CT outdoor mall to get 165 more apartments. Here’s how many will be affordable housing.
South Windsor on Tuesday approved a developer’s plan to build another 165 apartments near Evergreen Walk, but set several conditions to ensure that people renting the 21 “affordable housing” units will be treated the same as tenants paying market rate rents.
Howard Rappaport’s Longleaf Developers LLC told the planning and zoning commission Tuesday night that its plans changed since they were initially presented a year ago, but emphasized that the affordable housing and accessible housing components remained the same.
“A critical design element that has carried through is to create adaptable, accessible units in a manner in which potential tenants — particularly tenants with disabilities — will be able to make use of these properties,” said Peter Alter, a Glastonbury attorney representing the developer.
Two four-story buildings will hold a total of 75 apartments; both buildings will have elevators so they’re available to the disabled, Alter said. He called the design “an opportunity for people who otherwise might not be able to make use of apartment living.”
The remaining 90 apartments will be spread among a series of five- and 10-unit buildings and will be a bit different than traditional apartment complex living, Alter said.
The project will be an extension of Rappaport’s Tempo Evergreen Walk, a 200-unit complex behind the shopping plaza. But James Cassidy, project engineer, said the 165 new apartments won’t replicate Tempo, an all market-rate series of three-story buildings with 24 apartments each.
“What we’re proposing to do is to provide a different type of product. We’re trying to introduce a cottage-style unit that’s more like individual living,” Cassidy told the commission.
Those apartments will be clustered in five- and 10-unit buildings, but each will have a dedicated garage with direct access inside.
The new project, to be called The Residences at Evergreen Walk, will include a clubhouse with a pool. Near that will be the two four-story buildings, one with 38 apartments and the other with 37.
When the plans were initially shown last year, some nearby homeowners objected to the visual impact of having such tall buildings along the western perimeter of the 31-acre property. The western end is closest to their homes.
In response to neighbors’ concerns, Rappaport moved the two four-story buildings away from the western edge of the project and into the center, Cassidy said. The two buildings along the western edge were redesigned as part of the series of two-story buildings with “cottage” units.
Alter acknowledged that the commission had previously expressed concern that the 21 affordable units would be among the last ones built, and thus potentially at risk if the construction abruptly ended while most of the rest of the market-rate units were ready to lease. The affordable units are planned to be built in the two four-story buildings.
After discussions with Rappaport, Alter suggested the commission could stipulate that the town would issue certificates of occupancy for only half of the cottage units, and would hold back the rest until the four-story buildings were completed and ready to lease.
That would give commissioners “the reassurance that the developer would stay the course and finish the project,” Alter said.
Alter also assured the commission that Rappaport would disperse the affordable apartments throughout both buildings and on various floors so they’re not clustered in any way.
The Residences apartments will be a mix of one- and two-bedroom units. The developer hasn’t announced the projected rents, but it published a chart showing what the monthly cost for the 21 affordable units would be if they were available now.
Rent on a one-bedroom apartment for tenants making 80% of the region’s median income would be capped at $1,324; a two-bedroom could go for no more than $1,649.
Commissioners unanimously approved the developer’s site plan, with Town Planner Michele Lipe noting numerous conditions. They include the developer submitting an affordability plan stating that appliances in affordable units will be the same as in market-rate units, and showing how affordable apartments will be dispersed around the two four-story buildings.
The commission specified that the town won’t grant certificates of occupancy for that last 45 cottage apartments until the four-story buildings are done, and also said the developer must install EV chargers at three locations on the property.